Ewan McGregor Is Danny Torrance in The Shining 2

6 months ago

Ewan McGregor is the new Danny Torrance. Director Mike Flanagan has been hard at work prepping his adaptation of Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep. The book follows an older version of Danny who is haunted by the trauma he suffered during his time at the Overlook Hotel and it looks like McGregor is the man who is going to bring the older version of the character to life.

Stephen King is famously not a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, despite the fact that it’s now considered by many to be one of the greatest horror movies ever made. So much so that Steven Spielberg decided to include a rather impressive homage to the movie in this year’s Ready Player One. However, this new report states that King has actually given his blessing to cast Ewan McGregor, which is a great sign. Not only that, but McGregor has proven time and time again that he’s a truly excellent actor, which counts for a lot when it comes to something like this.

The success of IT last year helped push Warner Bros. to pull the trigger on Doctor Sleep. The studio had also been developing a prequel titled The Overlook Hotel for years but never managed to get it going. Mike Flanagan also found success bringing King to the screen last with his Netflix adaptation of Gerald’s Game which was received at least as well as IT critically, but didn’t make as much of a splash since it wasn’t released theatrically. So he certainly seems like the right choice to possibly pull something like this off.

In the novel, Danny Torrance is still haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel and can’t shake the trauma of what he encountered at the evil place when he was a young boy. He’s becoming much like his murderous father and is full of rage and is coping with a drinking problem that helps to dull his Shining powers. When he finally embraces sobriety, he establishes a psychic connection with a young girl he’s trying to help who is dying in hospice care. She is being targeted by a group known as the True Knot, who feed off of those who have Shining powers.

No previous casting announcements have been made as of yet, but Doctor Sleep is set to arrive in theaters on January 24, 2020. Star Wars fans may be wondering if this will get in the way of the long-awaited Obi-Wan Kenobi movie and that’s a valid concern. The failure of Solo at the box office may have put that project on the backburner and it appears as though McGregor didn’t just want to sit around and wait for the phone to ring. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as more details on the project are made available. This news comes to us courtesy of Variety.